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Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Make in India Week to showcase innovation, design and sustainability driving India’s new manufacturing revolution

As Mumbai is set to host the lion, Devendra Fadnavis and Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled

the Week, a flagship event that would become Make in India’s biggest statement yet

Mumbai, 8 February, 2016:India’s commercial capital is geared up for Make in India Week, a flagship event to provide greater momentum to the Make in India initiative, to showcase to the world the achievements of the nation in its manufacturing sector and to promote India as preferred manufacturing destination globally. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Mumbai, this week long calendar would offer unprecedented access, insights and opportunities to connect and collaborate with India and global industry leaders, visionaries, academicians, central and state administrations.

Creating a confluence of policymakers, industry, entrepreneurs and academia to showcase, connect and collaborate, as well as highlight the people, policies and partnerships driving India’s new manufacturing revolution, the Week would spark a renewed sense of pride in India's manufacturing and take corporate and public participation to the next level. The Prime Minister has pitched the Make in India story to investors across the globe, and will inaugurate the marquee event which will host government delegation from 49 nations and business delegations from 68 countries during the Week. Speaking at the Curtain Raiser press conference the week-long event organized to showcase India's manufacturing prowess, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce & Industry, Government of India, Nirmala Sitharaman said that "The government has incessantly pushed policy measures to boost manufacturing and today FDI in India is growing at 48 per cent while globally there is a sharp fall. The global business community has responded enthusiastically to Indian economy's revivalist fervour and Make in India Week will further showcase the nation's accomplishments in manufacturing and position India as investment, innovation and manufacturing hub."

Drawing the attention towards the Centre's view on States being partners to realize the nation's potential for achieving higher rates of growth and creating employment for masses, the Minister added that "States have a significant role in building and sustaining a manufacturing revolution and in the spirit of cooperative as well as competitive federalism they will be the drivers of development and centre will play a catalytic role."

The capital city of host State of Maharashtra will witness a blitzkrieg of business events and investor summits. Emphasizing that the world has now started to recognise India as a trusted investment destination, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis said that "India is poised to be the next big manufacturing destination." He added that "The Make in India Week will have global players exploring new avenues of invest in Maharashtra and hosting this event in the commercial capital of India will not only help consolidate the State's position as one of the favoured destination for foreign and domestic investors but also reinforce itself as a one of the gateways to economic and intellectual engagement with India." Some of the key government delegations would include Prime Minister led delegations from Finland, Sweden and Lithuania and Deputy Prime Minister led delegation from Poland. High level Government representatives are accompanied by large business delegations.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India, Amitabh Kant highlighted that "In order to give further momentum to the initiative begun by the Prime Minister aimed at promoting India as a big investment destination and increasing its share in global foreign investment, Make in India Week will be the biggest such effort". He further noted that "The challenge before India is to sustain a 9-10 percent growth rate for the next 3 decades. This can be achieved only if India continues to offer an easy ecosystem for businesses to flourish and a robust manufacturing sector growth."

"Some of the highlights of 'Make in India Week' would be the inauguration of the Make in India Centre at the Bandra-Kurla Complex by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CNN Asia Business Forum attended by global visionaries and leaders from the fields of finance, industry and design, and Time India awards recognizing excellence in the world of manufacturing and number of other notable events under aegis of Make in India Week" he pointed out.

Make in India Centre setup at MMRDA grounds in Mumbai to host the event would showcase exhibitions of the most innovative products and manufacturing processes across 11 sectors. The space in itself would be an avant-garde statement in design, merging the aesthetics of traditional craft with a futuristic vision. Make in India Centre would include sector specific pavilions showcasing 11 focus sectors of Make in India Week, 17 state exhibitions and several country pavilions. The Centre area would cover 2,20,000 sq. m and accommodates 27 halls. Country pavilion would include exhibitions from Sweden, Germany and South Korea. Over 190 exhibitors would showcase manufacturing prowess of the country across focus sectors. The Week would also serve as a crucible of ideas and innovation with industry-academia interaction featuring manufacturing success stories. An exhibition on innovation, by the best of IIT, would be inaugurated by the Prime Minister at the Make in India Centre. Leading Institutions from the world over would come together and develop solutions to address problems in three important areas - Water, Transportation and Energy. As a celebration of the entrepreneurship spirit of India's youth and to catalyse start up community to drive the entire value chain from innovation to manufacturing in India, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion and Qualcomm India would organize India’s largest start-up contest “QPrize™ Make in India” awarding Rs. 2 Crore in equity investment as prize money for the winning company. As a forum on rethinking contemporary design practices against the backdrop of manufacturingand promoting India as a global centre of design, a conference on Empowering through design would be organised to bring together global design thought leaders

"The week-long event will not only serve as a platform to position Maharashtra as an investment hub, highlight Mumbai's strengths as the destination for financial services in India but also showcase the city's cultural heritage. There will be exhibitions across museums and art galleries in Mumbai. While the key cultural event is Maharashtra Night which would showcase the best of media, entertainment popular culture from the state, the city will be a vibrant potpourri with 35 art and culture shows in collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra and Ministry of Culture, Government of India" Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra, Swadheen Kshatriya informed.

Key opportunities in sectors like auto, defence and aerospace, food processing, chemicals and petrochemicals, electronics and information technology, pharmaceuticals, textiles, industrial equipment manufacturing, construction equipment, and infrastructure will be showcased through 21 seminars conceptualized and led by the key Union Ministries. They will be addressed by Union Ministers, Think Tanks, Industry Leaders, Academic Institutions, and Industry Associations. Seminars will showcase investment opportunities in each sector, recent policy initiatives for attracting investments and ease of doing business. 12 State Investor Summits (Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) will be held showcasing key sectoral strengths with reference to investment opportunities, steps undertaken by the State government to improve business environment, locational advantages, and industrial infrastructure availability.

In addition to the seminars, the highlights of Week include events such as CNN Asia Business Forum, Time India Awards, Driving Innovation: Hackathon, Make in India: The way forward, Conference on Empowering through Design, The Global Design and Innovation session and Champions for Societal Manufacturing. The Make in India Week will help forging enormous global engagement with Indian industry in the form of partnerships and investments paving the path for a transformation of the world’s largest democracy into the world’s most powerful economy.